I recently bought the GT-5R as my first Ham Radio. I hit VHF and UHF repeaters 10 miles away and talk to people all over my state. Great Radio for the money which = Value. I bought the 3800 mAh battery upgrade and a Signal Stick antenna and I run about 4 days between charges. Easy to program both Chirp and manual. Highly recommend this radio for a cheap first radio.
Your neat, and well organized 'filming area' is a refreshing change from those I've seen in some videos. Plus, the information presented was easily understood and useful.
Thank you for the video! The new kid on the block this year seems to be the Quansheng UV-K5 and its even newer version UV-K5(8)/UV-K6. These new ones are also direct conversion radios, but they are approaching supersets in terms of RX sensitivity and selectivity. There are a lot of review videos on these new ones, but I don't think I've seen a single video directly comparing the guts of the Baofeng and Quansheng radios. Might be interesting to many, I think...
Great idea. I do have an UV-K5(8) on its way, and I have a UV-K5 on the desk. I'll have to do a comparison video on the two Quansheng radios, and also compare them to the Baofengs. Thank you for the comment and for watching!!
I recently did a harmonics test on a variety of models, including uv-5r, quansheng uv-5r plus, Anytone 878uv2, tyt md-uv380, and radtel 470. to my surprise, uv-5r (all purchased this year) came out with the best harmonic suppression. anytone and tyt missing the strict eu 60dB marginally. Quansheng was much worse, maybe complying barely with 40dB standards. Radtels were all spurious as heck around 15dB. So yes, apparently you are right on, and currently sold uv-5r are just as good harmonic-wise as gt-5r and possibly identical. Baofeng apparently did a phantastic job on suppressing spurious emissions, beating even anytone and tyt digital radios. Thank you for your video, this saves me buying gt-5r to replace uv-5r when in reality at least the latest batches of uv-5r seem to perform perfectly fine now.
That's exactly what I figured. The Chinese don't think of model numbers and their revisions like we do, and the UV-5R is almost the defacto universal "starter" radio, and in their minds "UV-5R" is as much of s a "brand name" as "Baofeng" itself. And the quality of Chinese products is better than it was, and much better than Americans want to admit. And yet? They buy a lot of Chinese products with generally good satisfaction! The Chinese may unseat the Japanese just as the Japanese unseated the US in this market. This will lower the price point. It already HAS. 73 DE W8LV BILL
Thank you for your comment! I think only time will tell. I still believe you get what you pay for with some of these radios. These radios are definitely getting better, but have a long way to go to compare to the likes of an ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood etc. It's definitely headed in the right direction.
Nice video. My UV-5R purchased in Oct/2023 uses the 22.07.02 bord. I compared the spurious with my GT-5R and they had the same charactoristic. I opened the UV-5R and it uses two H0606E for PA for each V and U and thier filters are well isolated in between. It was different from cirquit diagram foun on the internet. I guess they made redisign of the diagrame.
I bought the GT-5r mostly because it was "clean". Glad to see that is transferring to the other line0f "uv-5r's".. lets hope they continue with the rest!
To add a thought: provided uv-5r and gt-5r are internally identical by today, introducing gt-5r rather than announcing improvements on uv-5r may enable baofeng to establish different price points. Gt-5r run around $30 with their „clean“ pitch whereas the equally clean uv-5r that I purchased recently were half of that price.
The way that inductor is skewed on the pads is a typical side effect of using a part that's too small for the footprint - when the solder melts the surface tension will normally pull the part into alignment, but that only works if you have most of the pad covered and only a small part where the solder fillet can form. My guess is that the PCB was originally laid out for a chip inductor, bu this turned out to have some undesirable effects and it was replaced with a wound part. Those wound inductors are substantially more expensive than the chip type, so I think it's safe to assume they wouldn't be using it if they didn't have to.
And one more thought: even though I really love the open firmware of quansheng radios (uv-5r plus), unfortunately they seem to be on the same problematic spurious emissions level we found in the earlier versions of uv-5r. Quansheng may barely meet US FCC rules but definitely fails EU 60dB regulations. That’s why currently I would not buy Quansheng anymore (they meanwhile got officially banned in the EU, too) and instead stick to the recent version of baofeng uv-5r with their remarkable improvements on harmonics. Even though uv-5r are, too, officially banned in the EU, as a licensed HAM radio operator you can still legally operate them provided you can assert there are no illegal spurious emissions, and with the latest improvements, measuring and verifying below-60dB-harmonics should suffice to enjoy a cheap capable radio while at the same time be safe.
@@heikosoederyou are correct. They are still legal in the EU (for licensed radio amateurs only) , and licensed radio amateurs in turn are expected to know their emissions and stick to legal regulations. So while they can still be sold in the EU, using them most likely is illegal. Then again, I doubt any NetzAgentur personnel will go hunting down portable radio amateurs ;-)
Final comment: I also tested the recently advertised „big uv-5r“ with a larger display. They were as spurious as the old uv-5r so apparently they do not (yet?) use the improved hardware design.
Thank you for all your comments. There are definitely still some radios that haven't not benefitted from the updates on the UV-5R. I have a UV17R that will be in an upcoming video that is clean, but I haven't opened it to see what it looks like on the inside yet.
Update: I have a video releasing soon on the UV17, UV17R, UV21Pro and GC-5. The radio I mentioned in this comment above is mislabeled as a UV17R... Its actually a UV17 (The blue screen version.)
I recently bought the GT-5R as my first Ham Radio. I hit VHF and UHF repeaters 10 miles away and talk to people all over my state. Great Radio for the money which = Value. I bought the 3800 mAh battery upgrade and a Signal Stick antenna and I run about 4 days between charges. Easy to program both Chirp and manual. Highly recommend this radio for a cheap first radio.
Your neat, and well organized 'filming area' is a refreshing change from those I've seen in some videos. Plus, the information presented was easily understood and useful.
Thank you very much! I appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment! 73
Thank you for the video! The new kid on the block this year seems to be the Quansheng UV-K5 and its even newer version UV-K5(8)/UV-K6. These new ones are also direct conversion radios, but they are approaching supersets in terms of RX sensitivity and selectivity. There are a lot of review videos on these new ones, but I don't think I've seen a single video directly comparing the guts of the Baofeng and Quansheng radios. Might be interesting to many, I think...
Superhets, not supersets, of course:)
Great idea. I do have an UV-K5(8) on its way, and I have a UV-K5 on the desk. I'll have to do a comparison video on the two Quansheng radios, and also compare them to the Baofengs. Thank you for the comment and for watching!!
@@KC4NWK That would be awesome!
I recently did a harmonics test on a variety of models, including uv-5r, quansheng uv-5r plus, Anytone 878uv2, tyt md-uv380, and radtel 470. to my surprise, uv-5r (all purchased this year) came out with the best harmonic suppression. anytone and tyt missing the strict eu 60dB marginally. Quansheng was much worse, maybe complying barely with 40dB standards. Radtels were all spurious as heck around 15dB. So yes, apparently you are right on, and currently sold uv-5r are just as good harmonic-wise as gt-5r and possibly identical. Baofeng apparently did a phantastic job on suppressing spurious emissions, beating even anytone and tyt digital radios. Thank you for your video, this saves me buying gt-5r to replace uv-5r when in reality at least the latest batches of uv-5r seem to perform perfectly fine now.
Good information! I will have an upcoming video with the Quansheng UV-K5 and UV-K5(8)! Thank you for watching and commenting!!!
That's exactly what I figured. The Chinese don't think of model numbers and their revisions like we do, and the UV-5R is almost the defacto universal "starter" radio, and in their minds "UV-5R" is as much of s
a "brand name" as "Baofeng" itself. And the quality of Chinese products is better than it was, and much better than Americans want to admit. And yet? They buy a lot of Chinese products with generally good satisfaction! The Chinese may unseat the Japanese just as the Japanese unseated the US in this market. This will lower the price point. It already HAS. 73 DE W8LV BILL
Thank you for your comment! I think only time will tell. I still believe you get what you pay for with some of these radios. These radios are definitely getting better, but have a long way to go to compare to the likes of an ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood etc. It's definitely headed in the right direction.
Nice video. My UV-5R purchased in Oct/2023 uses the 22.07.02 bord. I compared the spurious with my GT-5R and they had the same charactoristic. I opened the UV-5R and it uses two H0606E for PA for each V and U and thier filters are well isolated in between. It was different from cirquit diagram foun on the internet. I guess they made redisign of the diagrame.
Thank you! It's great to hear about people getting these updated radios!
I bought the GT-5r mostly because it was "clean". Glad to see that is transferring to the other line0f "uv-5r's".. lets hope they continue with the rest!
Agree 100%.
excellent review
Thank you so much! Greatly appreciated! 73s
To add a thought: provided uv-5r and gt-5r are internally identical by today, introducing gt-5r rather than announcing improvements on uv-5r may enable baofeng to establish different price points. Gt-5r run around $30 with their „clean“ pitch whereas the equally clean uv-5r that I purchased recently were half of that price.
Definitely a possibility!
The way that inductor is skewed on the pads is a typical side effect of using a part that's too small for the footprint - when the solder melts the surface tension will normally pull the part into alignment, but that only works if you have most of the pad covered and only a small part where the solder fillet can form. My guess is that the PCB was originally laid out for a chip inductor, bu this turned out to have some undesirable effects and it was replaced with a wound part. Those wound inductors are substantially more expensive than the chip type, so I think it's safe to assume they wouldn't be using it if they didn't have to.
Interesting! That makes sense, and I was curious why they would be mounted like that! Thanks and 73!!
Great video!
Thanks! Your visit and comment are much appreciated!!
And one more thought: even though I really love the open firmware of quansheng radios (uv-5r plus), unfortunately they seem to be on the same problematic spurious emissions level we found in the earlier versions of uv-5r. Quansheng may barely meet US FCC rules but definitely fails EU 60dB regulations. That’s why currently I would not buy Quansheng anymore (they meanwhile got officially banned in the EU, too) and instead stick to the recent version of baofeng uv-5r with their remarkable improvements on harmonics. Even though uv-5r are, too, officially banned in the EU, as a licensed HAM radio operator you can still legally operate them provided you can assert there are no illegal spurious emissions, and with the latest improvements, measuring and verifying below-60dB-harmonics should suffice to enjoy a cheap capable radio while at the same time be safe.
Only in switzerland there banned not in the while EU
@@heikosoederyou are correct. They are still legal in the EU (for licensed radio amateurs only) , and licensed radio amateurs in turn are expected to know their emissions and stick to legal regulations.
So while they can still be sold in the EU, using them most likely is illegal.
Then again, I doubt any NetzAgentur personnel will go hunting down portable radio amateurs ;-)
Maybe do a 2024 best-value (budget oriented) portable HAM radio video
Final comment: I also tested the recently advertised „big uv-5r“ with a larger display. They were as spurious as the old uv-5r so apparently they do not (yet?) use the improved hardware design.
Thank you for all your comments. There are definitely still some radios that haven't not benefitted from the updates on the UV-5R. I have a UV17R that will be in an upcoming video that is clean, but I haven't opened it to see what it looks like on the inside yet.
Update: I have a video releasing soon on the UV17, UV17R, UV21Pro and GC-5. The radio I mentioned in this comment above is mislabeled as a UV17R... Its actually a UV17 (The blue screen version.)
Thank you
No, thank you!
My curiosity is now resolved ! 🕶
Well that's a good thing!
Thanks!
Thank you!
So, I guess there are no front-end filters added to the GT 5R? If it had front-end filters, the GT 5R could have been perfect
Are the shells identical or are there size differences between the radios
Yes, the radios are physically identical. :)
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